LaVar Ball’s Antics May Prevent Son of Former NBA Player From Attending UCLA

Former No. 1 overall draft pick and All-Star Kenyon Martin’s son, K.J. is already turning heads as a high school sophomore and being recruited by colleges, but apparently one school may have already been ruled out.

Speaking on “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” the elder Martin said that he would not want his son to attend UCLA while LaVar Ball is involved in the program. Ball, who was last seen throwing tantrums while coaching an AAU game, is not leaving UCLA any time in the forseeable future. While his oldest son, Lonzo, was recently drafted by the Lakers, his middle son, LiAngelo currently plays for UCLA while the youngest son, LaMelo, verbally committed to the Bruins in 2013.

“Everything that’s surrounding that family is negative, and it’s unfortunate,” Kenyon said. “I would definitely have that in consideration if Lonzo Ball was still, or LiAngelo or Melo Ball was still there and the dad was involved. I would definitely have some pause with sending my kid there.”

Kenyon said that K.J., who attends Sierra Canyon in California, was being recruited by “high” Division I programs, including Georgetown, West Virginia, Arizona and Kentucky. Sierra Canyon is in Los Angeles, which gives UCLA a very good opportunity to have an extended look at K.J.

“It would effect my son, because it’s his decision at the end of the day, but I will have influence in where he goes and if that’s part of the narrative at UCLA … I’m not going to subject myself to it or my kid to it because that’s just what we’re not going to do,” Kenyon followed up. “We want everything to be positive and a great experience going to college and the negativity and the uncertainty of what might go on, I’m just not willing to put my kid in that situation.”

While LaVar has made a lot of headlines for the wrong reasons during Lonzo’s rise to stardom, but this is the first time someone has openly said that LaVar would prevent his kid from joining UCLA and it comes at the hands of an accomplished former NBA player. The worst part for UCLA is that LaVar is not going away anytime soon unless the school ultimately decides not to make an offer to LaMelo. Otherwise, LaVar is their problem until 2021 and as he has shown, he can’t be controlled.